Download or read book The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street written by Karen White and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Christmas spirit is overtaking Tradd Street with a vengeance in this festive new novel in the New York Times bestselling series by Karen White. Melanie Trenholm should be anticipating Christmas with nothing but joy--after all, it's the first Christmas she and her husband, Jack, will celebrate with their twin babies. But the ongoing excavation of the centuries-old cistern in the garden of her historic Tradd Street home has been a huge millstone, both financially and aesthetically. Local students are thrilled by the possibility of unearthing more Colonial-era artifacts at the cistern, but Melanie is concerned by the ghosts connected to the cistern that have suddenly invaded her life and her house--and at least one of them is definitely not filled with holiday cheer.... And these relics aren't the only precious artifacts for which people are searching. A past adversary is convinced that there is a long-lost Revolutionary War treasure buried somewhere on the property that Melanie inherited--untold riches rumored to be brought over from France by the Marquis de Lafayette himself and intended to help the Colonial war effort. It's a treasure literally fit for a king, and there have been whispers throughout history that many have already killed--and died--for it. And now someone will stop at nothing to possess it--even if it means destroying everything Melanie holds dear.
Download or read book Pagan Christmas written by Christian Rätsch and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-10-24 with total page 559 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An examination of the sacred botany and the pagan origins and rituals of Christmas • Analyzes the symbolism of the many plants associated with Christmas • Reveals the shamanic rituals that are at the heart of the Christmas celebration The day on which many commemorate the birth of Christ has its origins in pagan rituals that center on tree worship, agriculture, magic, and social exchange. But Christmas is no ordinary folk observance. It is an evolving feast that over the centuries has absorbed elements from cultures all over the world--practices that give plants and plant spirits pride of place. In fact, the symbolic use of plants at Christmas effectively transforms the modern-day living room into a place of shamanic ritual. Christian Rätsch and Claudia Müller-Ebeling show how the ancient meaning of the botanical elements of Christmas provides a unique view of the religion that existed in Europe before the introduction of Christianity. The fir tree was originally revered as the sacred World Tree in northern Europe. When the church was unable to drive the tree cult out of people’s consciousness, it incorporated the fir tree by dedicating it to the Christ child. Father Christmas in his red-and-white suit, who flies through the sky in a sleigh drawn by reindeer, has his mythological roots in the shamanic reindeer-herding tribes of arctic Europe and Siberia. These northern shamans used the hallucinogenic fly agaric mushroom, which is red and white, to make their soul flights to the other world. Apples, which figure heavily in Christmas baking, are symbols of the sun god Apollo, so they find a natural place at winter solstice celebrations of the return of the sun. In fact, the authors contend that the emphasis of Christmas on green plants and the promise of the return of life in the dead of winter is just an adaptation of the pagan winter solstice celebration.
Download or read book Spirits of the Season written by KIRK and published by Tales of the Weird. This book was released on 2019-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Festive cheer turns to maddening fear in this new collection of seasonal hauntings, presenting the best Christmas ghost stories from the 1850s to the 1960s. The traditional trappings of the holiday are turned upside down as restless spirits disrupt the merry games of the living, Christmas trees teem with spiteful pagan presences, and the Devil himself treads the boards at the village pantomime. As the cold night of winter closes in and the glow of the hearth begins to flicker and fade, the uninvited visitors gather in the dark in this distinctive assortment of haunting tales.
Download or read book The Spirits of Christmas written by Sylvia Shults and published by Crossroad Press. This book was released on 2017-11-14 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What darkness lurks beneath the Season of Lights? T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring … but are you sure about that? The dark winter nights can hold many secrets. Sylvia Shults has gathered over 120 tales of Christmas ghosts, giving new meaning to "the dead of winter". Shults organizes the book around seven themes. They encompass everything from strange Christmas customs ("We Wish You A Merry Christmas … Or Else!"), to the season's monsters ("He Sees You When You're Sleeping"), to ghost stories of Christmas ("'Tis The Season" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear"). Unwrap this book, and shiver your way through this great collection of gho-ho-hosts.
Download or read book Festive Spirits written by Kate Atkinson and published by Doubleday Books. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The perfect Christmas gift: three festive tales from the brilliant pen of Kate Atkinson. 'Lucy would have challenged anyone not to cry at the sight of their child in a Nativity play. Even a sheepish Maude, even a scowling Beatrice - currently attempting a Chinese burn on an adjacent angel. A shepherd shouted something incomprehensible to Joseph. One of the Wise Men wet himself. Beatrice waved enthusiastically - a little too enthusiastically - at Lucy from the angelic choir. It was better than any religion, Lucy thought.' From the Costa Award-winning author of LIFE AFTER LIFE
Download or read book The Christmas Spirits written by Whitley Strieber and published by Coronet. This book was released on 2011-11-21 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Moore is a modern day Scrooge, a futures trader who drives his staff hard, and won't let his assistant go home to look after her autistic son on Christmas Eve.Like Scrooge he is mean with money, but he is also mean with his sympathies and his time. He has to swerve to avoid putting money in a charity box and also crosses the road to avoid a family he thinks are probably gypsies on his way to dinner at a cheap cafeteria. An old man sitting nearby looks as if he might be looking for the warmth of some human contact. George refuses to meet his eye and hurries home.Various slightly odd, even disconcerting things happen. He encounters a nun who looks like an elderly child. He sees a Santa in the window of a department store, who seems to emerge from his Grotto, look confused, and is then surrounded by small elf-like figures who drag him back behind the curtains. Finally, when he arrives back in his apartment the old man from the cafeteria suddenly appears and reveals himself as George's old mentor in trading and in greed. Bill Hill reveals that he is dead and that he has come to give George a warning. He warns George he will have three visitors that night, and then in a flash he disappears.So it comes about that, as Bill Hill said, George receives three visitors that Christmas Eve, just as Scrooge was visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. But these are not the ghosties and sprites that frightened Dickens's readers. George's visitors are more ambiguous, more frightening to a modern sensibility. They are visitors that will give even today's reader goose bumps.They take George on an emotional journey that like Scrooge's journey - and the journey in another Christmas story, It's a Wonderful Life - teaches him the true value of Christmas, the true meaning of life and finally ... how to love. This new classic is both very scary and very Christmassy.
Download or read book Christmas Spirits written by Lynn Kurland and published by Berkley. This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of romantic tales sure to warm readers' hearts this holiday season--romantic spirits stir up love to last an eternity. Stories includes "The Three Wise Ghosts" by Lynn Kurland, "Keeping Faith" by Casey Claybourne, "Only FIfteen Shopping Days Left . . ".
Download or read book The Last of the Spirits written by Chris Priestley and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-11-13 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sam and Lizzie are freezing and hungry on the streets of Victorian London. When Sam asks a wealthy man for some coins, he is rudely turned away. Months of struggle suddenly find their focus, and Sam resolves to kill the man. Huddling in a graveyard for warmth, Sam and Lizzie are horrified to see the earth around one of the tombs begin to shift, shortly followed by the wraithlike figure of a ghostly man. He warns Sam about the future which awaits such a bitter heart, and so begins Sam's journey led by terrifying spirits through the past, present and future, after which Sam must decide whether to take the man, Scrooge's, life or not. A perfectly layered, tense and supremely satisfying twist on one of Dickens' most popular books, cleverly reinvented to entice a younger readership.
Download or read book Christmas by the Book written by Anne Marie Ryan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A heartfelt and lovely Christmas tale for book lovers everywhere!”—Jenny Colgan, author of The Bookshop on the Shore In small-town England, two booksellers facing tough times decide to spread some Christmas cheer through the magic of anonymous book deliveries in this uplifting holiday tale for book lovers everywhere. Nora and her husband, Simon, have run the beautiful oak-beamed book shop in their small British village for thirty years. But times are tough and the shop is under threat of closure--this Christmas season will really decide their fate. When an elderly man visits the store and buys the one book they've never been able to sell, saying it's the perfect gift for his sick grandson, it gives Nora an idea. She and Simon will send out books to those feeling down this Christmas. Maybe they can't save their bookstore, but at least they'll have one final chance to lift people's spirits through the power of reading. After gathering nominations online, Nora and Simon quietly deliver books to six residents of the village in need of some festive cheer, including a single dad of twins who is working hard to make ends meet, a teenage boy grieving for his big sister, a local Member of Parliament who is battling depression, and a teacher who's newly retired and living on her own. As the town prepares for a white Christmas, the books begin to give the recipients hope, one by one. But with the future of the bookshop still up in the air, Nora and Simon will need a Christmas miracle--or perhaps a little help from the people whose lives they've touched--to find a happy ending of their own....
Download or read book The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street written by Karen White and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Christmas spirit is overtaking Tradd Street with a vengeance in this festive new novel in the New York Times bestselling series by Karen White. Melanie Trenholm should be anticipating Christmas with nothing but joy—after all, it’s only the second Christmas she and her husband, Jack, will celebrate with their twin toddlers. But the ongoing excavation of the centuries-old cistern in the garden of her historic Tradd Street home has been a huge millstone, both financially and aesthetically. Local students are thrilled by the possibility of unearthing more Colonial-era artifacts at the cistern, but Melanie is concerned by the ghosts connected to it that have suddenly invaded her life and her house—and at least one of them is definitely not filled with holiday cheer.... And these relics aren’t the only precious artifacts for which people are searching. A past adversary is convinced there is a long-lost Revolutionary War treasure buried somewhere on the property Melanie inherited—untold riches rumored to have been brought over from France by the Marquis de Lafayette himself and intended to help the Colonial war effort. It’s a treasure literally fit for a king, and there have been whispers throughout history that many have already killed—and died—for it. And now someone will stop at nothing to possess it—even if it means destroying everything Melanie and Jack hold dear.
Download or read book Colonial Spirits written by Steven Grasse and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This tour of early American alcohol shares recipes, “fun facts and anecdotes about our forefathers’ drinking habits with a 21-century sense of humor” (Chicago Tribune). In Colonial Spirits, legendary distiller Steven Grasse presents a historical manifesto on drinking, including 50 colonial era– inspired cocktail recipes. The book features a rousing timeline of colonial imbibing and a cultural overview of all kinds of alcoholic beverages: beer, rum and punch; temperance drinks; liqueurs and cordials; medicinal beverages; cider; wine, whiskey, bourbon and more. The book is spiced with delightful illustrations and liquored-up adages from our founding fathers. Grasse shares expert guidance on DIY home brewing, plus recipes like the Philadelphia Fish House Punch (a crowd pleaser!) and Snakebites (drink alone!). Hot beer cocktails and rattle skulls have never been so irresistible.
Download or read book East by West written by Jasmine Hemsley and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2017-11-02 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2018 Hearst Big Books Award (Women's Health and Wellbeing) East by West is the first solo cookbook from bestselling author, cook and TV presenter Jasmine Hemsley, co-founder of Hemsley + Hemsley. Featuring 140 delicious recipes from around the world, East by West champions the ancient Ayurvedic philosophy of eating to nourish, sustain and repair for ultimate mind-body balance. Jasmine continues her passion for balancing body, mind and spirit amidst the challenges of our fast-paced day-to-day lives, through real food and tasty home cooking. With a focus on listening to your body, eating when you’re hungry, being conscious of what you’re eating when you’re eating it and choosing foods that are right for your mood from day to day, East by West is a modern take on the Ayurvedic principles. With classic Ayurvedic comfort dishes from Golden Milk to Kitchari and great family sharing dishes Sesame Roast Chicken to Saffron Millionaire Cheesecake, the book has something for every taste (bringing to life store cupboard basics to create dishes) from super simple to simply special. A global range of recipes, together with simple mindful rituals and a classic cleanse to revisit when your energy levels need a boost help the book bring Ayurveda to life in a fresh and friendly way. Packed with beautiful colour photography and inspired by Jasmine’s personal journey with food and healthy living, East by West represents a delicious evolution of the ideas explored in Hemsley + Hemsley bestsellers Good + Simple and The Art of Eating Well.
Download or read book Santa Claus The Book of Secrets written by Russell Ince and published by Russell Ince. This book was released on 2018-11-21 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After centuries of closely guarding ancient secrets, Santa Claus has decided that the time has come to share the magical mysteries behind Christmas. All of the miraculous happenings that contribute towards making Christmas the most remarkable time of the year are finally to be revealed to the world.
Download or read book The 13th Gift written by Joanne Huist Smith and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2015-01-29 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every day can be Christmas. After the unexpected death of her husband, Joanne Huist Smith had no idea how she would keep herself together and be strong for her three children - especially with the holidays approaching. The cheerfulness of the season made her feel more alone than ever, no matter how much she wanted to reach out to her children and find some way to comfort them. But thirteen days before Christmas, a poinsettia appeared on the Smiths' doorstep. The next day, another gift arrived … then another, and another. Each present was accompanied by a note with lyrics to the carol ''The Twelve Days of Christmas'' rewritten to fit the gift and and signed, ''Your true friends.'' Although Jo resisted the intrusion at first, the gifts began to work a kind of magic on her and the kids. As they puzzled over the mystery together - who were the true friends? when would the next delivery arrive? could anyone catch the gift givers in the act? - their grieving hearts began to heal. The 13th Gift is a true story about the everyday miracles that can occur during the holiday season. It is a heartwarming reminder that with love, community, and family, even the most broken of hearts can be mended.
Download or read book Ghosts of Christmas Past written by Neil Gaiman and published by John Murray. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A present contains a monstrous secret. An uninvited guest haunts a Christmas party. A shadow slips across the floor by firelight. A festive entertainment ends in darkness and screams. Who knows what haunts the night at the dark point of the year? This collection of seasonal chillers looks beneath Christmas cheer to a world of ghosts and horrors, mixing terrifying modern fiction with classic stories by masters of the macabre. From Neil Gaiman and M. R. James to Muriel Spark and E. Nesbit, there are stories here to make the hardiest soul quail - so find a comfy chair, lock the door, ignore the cold breath on your neck and get ready to welcome in the real spirits of Christmas.
Download or read book The Man Who Invented Christmas written by Les Standiford and published by Crown. This book was released on 2008-11-04 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how Charles Dickens revived the signal holiday of the Western world—now a major motion picture. Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist. The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all. With warmth, wit, and an infusion of Christmas cheer, Les Standiford whisks us back to Victorian England, its most beloved storyteller, and the birth of the Christmas we know best. The Man Who Invented Christmas is a rich and satisfying read for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.
Download or read book The Christmas Spirit written by Elisabeth Fairchild and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-11-13 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Earl gets his Christmas spirits lifted in this original Signet Regency Romance from Elisabeth Fairchild. For Christmas, Kirkland Fleming, Earl of Copeland, promises his guests a fortnight of eating, drinking, and hunting ghosts at Broomhill Hall. Though he fears his ill health may soon turn him into a ghost himself, he hopes to find a pleasurable diversion in holiday cheer. But icy roads prevent his guests from arriving—all but the one he did not invite... Though the beautiful Miss Belinda Walcott has arrived for her own mysterious purpose, the magic of the season soon casts a spell on them both…one that may even be strong enough to revive Kirkland’s flagging Christmas spirit.
